Chair for taking cardiograms



July 10, 1962 D. l. NIELSEN CHAIR FOR TAKING CARDIOGRAMS Filed July 1,1960 W I Mac A p W I w a z m... a Q m W cm A Z a H u z i 1 i u 3 AWW 4 uMW KW ilnited States Patent 3,043,291 Patented July 10, 1962 3,043,291CHAIR FOR TAKING CARDIOGRAMS David I. Nielsen, 400 Westminster St.,Newport Beach, Calif. Filed July 1, 1960, Ser. No. 40,388 2 Claims. (Cl.128-2.06)

The invention relates to the taking of electrocardiograms and moreparticularly relates to a chair in which a patient may comfortably sitwhile a cardiogr-am is being taken.

It is an object of my invention to provide a cardiographic chair inwhich a person sits, in a normal posture, While being examined so as tosimplify and speed up the taking of electrocardiograms.

Another object of my invention is to provide a chair which has no strapsfor holding electrodes against the patients limbs.

A further object of my invention is to provide a seat for a patientinstead of a bed, requiring less space and having a better appearance,and being more easily moved from place to place.

Another object of my invention is to provide an eco nomical andpractical means for taking cardiograms rapidly and on a mass productionscale.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrative of a presently preferredembodiment of my invention,

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the general arrangement of my newchair;

FIG. 2 is vertical sectional view on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1, and on anenlarged scale, showing spring-controlled apparatus for bringing a legelectrode into contact with a patients leg;

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view on the line 3-3 of FIG. 1, showingthe arrangement of two arm electrodes on one arm of the chair;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3, showing the arrangement of a singleelectrode on an arm of the chair;

FIG. 5 is a horizontal sectional view on the line 5-5 of FIG. 2, showingfurther details of the leg electrode;

FIG. 6 is a vertical section on the line 66 of FIG. 2, showing the meansof maintaining the leg electrode erect; and

FIG. 7 is a sectional view through one of the arm electrodes on the line7--7 of FIG. 3.

Having reference now to the details of the drawing, I have shown in FIG.1 a chair 10, illustrated in relation to a person occupying it. Theattitude of the person will be observed to be entirely normal andrelaxed except that he has his sleeves and one trousers leg rolled up,to provide the usual skin contact with the hereinafter describedelectrodes. The chair 10 has arm-rests 11 and 12, and preferably haslegs 14 connected by fore and aft braces 15 and transverse braces 16,although any type of base for the chair may be used which is suitablefor supporting the mechanism hereinafter described in connection with aleg electrode.

The arms 11 and 12 are hollowed longitudinally on their upper sides, asbest seen in FIG. 7, to provide trough-like hollows 18 and 19 capable ofreceiving and holding the arms of a person sitting in the chair. In thebottoms of these hollows there are disposed electrodes 20, 21 and 22,mounted on plates 24 and 25 of insulating material, and connected to acardiograph machine (not shown) by electrical connections 26, 27, and28. I prefer to place two of the electrodes on one chair arm, and oneelectrode on the other arm; the extra electrode on one side takes theplace of an electrode to contact the leg on that side.

Connected to the lower part of the chair, as to the transverse braces16, is a cylinder containing a rod 31 having a vertically elongated head32. Blocks 33, in

which the cylinder 30 is mounted, hold the cylinder immobile and preventit from rotating. Along the top of the cylinder 30 is a slot 34, andfrom the slot 34 there emerges a key 35 fastened in the rod 31. Thus therod 31 is also prevented from rotating, and a Vertical position isassured for the head 32. The key 35 may be in the form of a screw-eye,and to it is fastened one end of a spring 36. The other end of thespring 36 is secured to -a front leg 14 of the chair, and tension of thespring urges the rod 31 towards the front of the chair, the movementbeing limited by the contact of the key 35 with the end of the slot 34;

The head 32 is convex on its forward face. The convex face is alsohaving a hollow trough-like shape, like the arm rests 11 and 12, so asto provide a better contact with the calf of a persons leg. Within thehollow 37 is an insulating plate 38 and upon the insulating plate thereis secured an electrode 39. An electrical connection connects theelectrode 39 to the aforesaid cardiograph machine.

The electrode 39 is on the opposite side of the chair from the twoelectrodes 21 and 22. The positions are interchangeable; if theelectrodes 21 and 22 are on the right arm of the chair, the cylinder 30is placed near the left legs of the chair so that the electrode 39 maymake contact with the left leg of a person sitting in the chair, or theelectrodes 21 and 22 may be on the left chair arm and the electrode 39may operate against a persons right leg.

In operation, when a person sits in the chair with his forearms on thearm rests 11 and 12, his forearms will fall naturally into thetrough-like hollows 18 and 19. It will require positive muscular effortto raise his arms from the hollows 18 and 19. Consequently his bareforearms rest upon the electrodes 20, 21, and 22 and make quite as goodcontact with these electrodes as if the electrodes were strapped uponthe 'arms. Likewise the convex head 32 will fit just below the bulge ofthe calf muscle of the persons leg, and the hollow 37 will engage thelower part of the muscle, preventing the leg from moving sideways. Thepersons shoe upon the floor produces a resistance against which thespring 36 pushes. If the person does not feel the push of the spring 36,he may move his foot backward until he does feel it; the electrode 39 isthen pressed against his leg. The convex head on the plunger permits aperson with long legs to push his heel backward, while a short personslegs may stand outward from the chair; in either case the leg will makecontact with the electrode on the convex curve.

It will be evident that the chair may be used either in a specialcardiograph room where it may be operated by a nurse or trainedspecialist, or it may be transported to a convenient site in a school,factory, or other facility where mass electrocardiograms may beaccomplished, in either case taking up less space and having less weightthan the usual couch.

The device is self-adjusting to persons of various heights by the springand the convex plunger head of the leg electrode.

The device is compact and can easily be transported, and occupies aminimum of space.

It provides a simple, inexpensive means of'performing masselectrocardiograms with a minimum of inconvenience to the patient and tothe operator.

I claim: 7

1. A chair for use in taking electrocardiograms which includes:

a chair structure having a base including legs, a seat,

a seat back and arm rests, said seat, seat back and said arm rests beingconnected to one another and to I means forhiasingis'aid elongated headaway fromsaid :Base connected to said base and head; an electrode meanspositioned within each of said surfaces of a trough-like shape, each ofsaid electrode 10 means including an insulator mounted Within thetrough-like surface within which it is disposed, a

metal electrode 'positioned on each of said insulators,

v '1 and terminal means connected to each of said metal electrodes.

2. A chair for use in taking electrocardiograms as defined in claim 1,including another electrode means posi- 5 tioned within one of saidsurfaces of a trough-like shape on one of said arms, bothofsaidelectrode means on said one of the said arms being of the sameconstruction.

References Cited'in the file of this patent UNITED STATES BATENTS SharpMar. 8, 1881 Ryberg May 28, 1935 wait, M-

